New initiative to help people suffering with their mental health back into work

A company in Wales is partnering with the DWP to help bring people with mental health issues back into work.

Towards the end of last year the ‘Press Pause to Play’ programme was piloted in Swansea to help people with anxiety and depression through a combination of psychology, physiology and neuroscience, reports ITV News.

This scheme successfully saw 50% of participants return to work.

Start Smiling Again, the company behind the project, are partnering with the Department for Work and Pensions and hope to achieve a similar result across Wales by rolling the programme out to a number of job centres in Wales.

Founder of Start Smiling Again, David Rahman has said: “We're successfully helping people get back into the workplace after enduring many years of being stuck in a rut. The results so far have been spectacular. For example, one lady was out of work for over a decade - she's now returned back to the workplace."

Minister for Disabled People Justin Tomlinson welcomes the programme as a mark of the Welsh Government's promise to support people with mental health conditions. “This scheme is not only helping jobseekers find work but is also informing wider government activity on mental health. Supporting people with mental health conditions is a priority for this government, and we have allocated over £43 million to pilot services which will help people with such conditions find and stay in work."

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